Castle & Park

The castle in the village of Krasiczyn (krah-shee-chin), just 11km southwest of Przemyśl, is called 'the gem of the Polish Renaissance'. It's in a landscaped 14-hectare park with almost 100 different species of plants and trees.

Designed by Italian architect Galleazzo Appiani and built between 1592 and 1618 for the wealthy Krasicki family, the castle is more or less square and built around a spacious, partly arcaded courtyard, with four different cylindrical corner towers. The towers were meant to reflect the social order of the period and were named (clockwise from the southeastern corner) after God, the pope, the king and the nobility. The God Tower (Baszta Bosca), topped with a dome, houses a chapel. The King Tower (Baszta Królewska), with its conical roof and little turrets, would make a lovely home for Rapunzel of long-hair fame. On the courtyard side of the castle walls are Renaissance sgraffiti decorations of Biblical scenes and Polish nobility.

The courtyard and three of the corner towers can be visited on a guided tour (in Polish only), which departs on the hour.